New OSX Opensource audiophile player : Audirvana

[bulmanxxi]

Damien,

 

Stereo seems to be working now but I have a question - does it force the output into 16bit mode? It seems that it makes the MIDI output setting of my DAC to go to 16bit rather than 24bit.

 

[damien78]

@bulmanxxi: what is your DAC ?

In addition, can you send me the debug info (while playing) ?

Audirvana is looking for the Integer stream with highest bitrate, so if 24bit is present, it should get it. Otherwise it may mean your DAC is working only in 16bit when in Integer mode ?

 

Damien

 

[Jud]

Latest version of A-vana. I'm running A-vana on a mid-09 13" MacBook Pro, 2.53 GHz CPU, 256 GB SSD, 8 GB RAM. Using Airfoil to send A-vana signal to Airport Express, thru Toslink to M-Audio C02 optical/coax converter, then over Omega Mikro Zephyr coax into Theta Pro Basic II DAC; from there thru Spectral DMC-12 and PSE Studio IV amp to Vandersteen 2Ces. (Kind of amazing anything at all comes outta this Rube Goldberg setup, but it actually sounds very nice.)

 

With hog and integer mode checked, I still get dropouts about once or twice per song. I had thought maybe A-vana was starving Airfoil of resources, but looking at top, neither CPU nor memory seems to be maxed when the dropouts occur. Perhaps it's the wireless communication that's hiccuping? (Though main router, AE and MacBook will do wireless N, my iPhone is a 3GS that needs wireless G, so the home wireless network is limited to that speed.)

 

Anyone else using A-vana through an Airport Express who can tell me if you're experiencing anything similar?

 

I'm strongly considering trying a V-Link USB/coax converter when they become available so I can run wired from MacBook thru V-Link to DAC. I'm guessing that will improve SQ, and hoping it will eliminate the dropouts as well.

 

[Gav]

Hi Chilest,

 

You're absolutely right. I set 'normal' in the Weiss application on my MBP and the 'Use Max I/O buffer' now works flawlessly.

 

How the heck did you ever work that out?!

 

Thanks for your help on this.

 

Now, how do we convince Weiss to produce a new driver for the INT that supports integer mode?

 

Gav

 

[chilest]

Gav:

It was the process of elimination. I tried every combination of settings in Audirvana with no luck (over a period of about a month). Then, during a marathon training run yesterday, I was thinking that it must be something in the link between the software and my external DAC. The INT202 was the only untested link. I then started looking at the options in the Weiss control panel and the Operation Mode settings jumped out. BTW, Weiss has a new driver out on their web site, though I do not think they support integer mode--not sure.

tom

 

[Ajax]

Hi Damien,

 

I received your email acknowledging my donation. Thanks for that.

 

I also have a 16 bit issue:

 

The bottom right hand side of the Audirvana display is showing a file is 16 bit when it is in fact 24 bit.

 

It shows "16/48 to 32/192 D/A oversampling converter" for Society of Sound 24 bit downloads.

 

Audio MIDI Set up is showing 1920000 2ch-32 bit

 

I am using USB - M2 Tech Hiface - coaxial input of a Benchmark DAC1 HDR.

 

Is this just a display error or is Audirvana truncating 24 bit to 16 bit before oversampling, although It certainly doesn't sound like it.

 

 

 

 

[Ajax]

For you guys who don't like being forced to use mediocre applications by the mega corporations of Apple and Microsoft, that can't;

 

1. automatically change sample rates or

 

2. play FLAC or

 

3. perform every possible processing (loading, decoding, SRC, integer formatting, ...) before playback

 

and who are now enjoying these benefits and the excellent sound quality of Audirvana, how about supporting Damien. I am sure any amount of donation no matter how small would be appreciated.

 

He has been extremely generous with his talent so it is pretty simple really - if we want him to perfect and debug Audirvana then we need to support him.

 

It is a very rare bird that has the technical expertise and audio knowledge to be able do what he is doing.

 

If they are not supported they will fly away.

 

 

[JS21]

Hi Damien,

 

Any word on the album art "solution"? Not rushing you, just asking...

 

Thanks,

Jose.

 

[Gav]

Tom,

 

I updated to the latest Weiss driver software (3.5.5.10185). You're guess was right, it doesn't support integer mode! Oh well maybe next time.

 

Tonight was my first chance to properly listen to Audirvana with 'Use Max I/O buffer' active. This was with 'normal' operation mode set in the latest Weiss software.

 

Wow, I'm a happy man. I have tended to switch between Audirvana and Decibel, maybe favouring Decibel overall. Now Audirvana is clearly top of the tree for SQ in my system. A donation going to Damien from me.

 

Gav

 

[chilest]

Gav:

Audirvana is outstanding. I am comparing it to Pure Music and quite frankly I think Audirvana maybe more natural sounding with better imaging, though this might be a difference only in my head. I think where both programs shine is with Jen Chapin's 24/96 reVisions album from HDtracks, truly amazing soundstage and clarity.

Cheers.

tom

 

[memphiskat]

With the latest update I'm now getting clicks between tracks. This is with 44.1 material and no upsampling.

 

Macbook os10.6.6 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 2GB

 

Max buffer checked, one notch down from max of 1GB

 

Most of my music is live and one track flows to the next so it's very distracting.

 

Any thoughts?

 

Karl

 

[jhwalker]

I don't hear a click, per se, but there is a slight discontinuity between one gapless track and the next. I do not hear this issue with iTunes or any of the other players I am currently using (Fidelia, Decibel).

 

[4est]

Try un checking "max buffer"

 

[memphiskat]

4est- thanks! that worked. No more clicking between gapless tracks.

 

[djembe]

For some reason i'm only getting one channel output from audirvana. I have it feeding into jack router then through audour DAW. Jack is only seeing a single output from audirvana.

 

[wgscott]

The problem is iTunes in some cases will store the cover art separately in a completely cryptic manner. There is an applescript available from Doug's Scripts that will embed this art into each individual track:

 

http://dougscripts.com/itunes/scripts/download.php?sc=embedart

 

 

 

[dave_kiwi]

One minor bug - any file greater than 60 minutes ie 63:04, shows up as 03:04 in the playlist window. No issues on the "player" its self though.

 

Some kernel panics when using -- will try an capture the output next time it occurs.

 

[damien78]

New release 0.7.0 includes the UI design work contributed by Atilla Taskiran who has designed two skins (Silver and Graphite Black) for the main player window of Audirvana.

 

This release also includes reading of WAV files metadata (both WAVfmt and id3v2 tags, including Album Art).

 

Damien

 

[wgscott]

Both skins look great. I wonder if a drop shadow might give more of a 3D illusion?

 

[iamoneagain]

I'm not showing song title in the latest update. I do like the new look but wish we could resize a little smaller. I keep it open next to iTunes, so it ends up overlapping.

 

I'm also showing 24bit track as 16bit in the display.

 

[charlesc]

Hi,

first of all, many thanks to Damien for his great work, Audirvana works perfectly well for me.

A problem with the new interface: not enough contrast between the color of the letters (very small to my eyes) and the background. The former with white letters on black background was much more comfortable.

Damien, at some point of time, you should stop changing an excellent product, the risk is now that you get some regressions.

Take care

 

[JS21]

wgscott,

 

Thanks for the help, but artwork still not showing, even with newest 0.7.0 version.

 

Jose.

 

[bulmanxxi]

Damien,

 

I also don't think that the new GUI is a step forward but a couple of more important features mentioned before:

 

- a search box - ability to search for a song, album, artist, etc., i.e. iTunes, Deciber and Fidelia

- saving the last played playlist

- ability to link to the iTunes library, i.e. Fidelia

 

Also, a persisting issue - it keeps playing 16/96 instead of 24/96.

 

Thank you.

 

[iamoneagain]

Have there been any changes to the sound? I only listened for a little bit and thought something might be different but wasn't sure.

 

As far as the look, I do find the text a little harder to read in the player. I'm not really a fan of the fake CD look all together. I do like Audirvana's sound better, but think Decibel's simpler interface is easier to use.

 

I haven't tested in new version but I was having an issue with true gapless. I notice a very slight gap between tracks that is not there on Decibel's player.

 

[4est]

"I'm not really a fan of the fake CD look all together."

 

I agree, and would much prefer a single window with the controls at the top. Especially because when you add tracks, you have then hit the player window in order for it to become active before it will accept a "play" click. Even if they were tied together as one window it would save a lot of needless clicking and activating of windows.